Konoha had always been known as the greatest of the shinobi villages of the Elemental countries, yet what most people didn't know was that while part of Konoha's strength came from its proud and powerful ninja, there was another important factor that played in.
Konoha had, much like almost every other hidden village, established a lot of trade routes since its founding, yet what made Konoha unique was the effort put into keeping the trading fair and prosperous. There was always a team of ninja sent out when it seemed like one of their trading partners was threatened, and Konoha made sure to always root out any corruption that might try to take hold in their intricate network of trade routes.
All trades were equal in the opinion of the overseeing officials that handled the economy of the village, and every trading partner got his or her chance to negotiate their payment, rights, the frequency in which they should send their wares to the village etc. It didn't matter if it was the lowliest of peasants or the richest of nobles, everyone had the right to get a fair contract.
This not only led to making Konoha highly popular in the surrounding nations, but also allowed the villagers to find wares of high quality for a fair price at all times during the year.
So why Uzumaki Naruto was only allowed to buy expired food for twice its actual cost was beyond his understanding.
That was why he was now walking through the isles of the food store closest to his home under the guise of a middle-aged man with a slight limp. He had started using Henge no Jutsu for shopping purposes a few months ago, and he was still slightly amazed by the difference.
When he was before barely even allowed into the store, and had to pay a small fortune for just enough food to survive the week, he could now safely buy any type of food he wanted, without having to worry about being overcharged or simply thrown out.
'It's a real pity that you need identification in order to buy anything within the stores for shinobi gear though. Otherwise I would've used this trick months ago to get rid of that horrible orange jumpsuit.'
Now Naruto didn't hate the colour orange. In fact he rather liked it. But his previous jumpsuit had been a bit too much, even for his standards, and it also itched terribly. Yet, his jumpsuit was the only clothing he had, so he had put up with it. Now that he had graduated however, he was less than inclined to run around on missions with clothing that practically screamed 'please kill me'.
Absently putting some fruit into his shopping bag, Naruto turned his thoughts back to the meeting with his soon-to-be Jounin sensei.
-Flashback-
Just when Naruto felt like he couldn't take it anymore, the door to the classroom slid open and a tall man with silver hair stepped lazily into the room. He was clothed in the standard Jounin uniform, which was just like its Chuunin counterpart apart from the slightly modified flak vest, along with a pair of fingerless gloves with steel plating, commonly used in ANBU. The man had tied his hitai-ate across his forehead, and kept it slightly slanted, so that it covered his left eye. The right, visible eye, was grey in colour, and currently held a bored expression. The entirety of the man's face was covered by a dark blue mask, hiding it from the world.
"My first impression of you is… that I hate you all." the man said with a smile. At least Naruto thought it was a smile, as his visible eye crinkled up in a way that seemed to indicate that that was indeed the case.
"Meet me on the roof of the academy in ten minutes." and with that, the Jounin was gone.
Ten minutes later, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were all sitting on one of the benches placed on the roof of the academy, all of them looking at their soon-to-be sensei with various degrees of interest mixed with annoyance.
"Alright then. Why don't we all take our time to introduce ourselves then." said the silver haired Jounin.
"Um, sensei, what should we say." asked Sakura, voicing the question that went through the heads of all three of the Genin gathered on the roof.
"How about your name, likes, dislikes, dreams. You know, things like that." the Jounin began, and at their nonplussed looks continued, "Perhaps I should go first then. Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi, I like a lot of things, and don't really hate anything. As for dreams…" he trailed off at the end, gazing lazily at the fluffy clouds soaring high above them.
"Why don't you go first Pinky?" he continued, turning his gaze toward Sakura, who yelped slightly at being picked out first.
"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like to bake, read and…" she trailed off and turned her eyes toward Sasuke, blushing slightly at the same time.
"My dream is to…" again she trailed off and stared longingly at the raven haired boy next to her.
"And your dislikes?" Kakashi asked, trying to keep his slight annoyance out of his voice. He hoped that Sakura could change, because he would not have a fangirl on his team.
"Naruto." came the answer, her voice slightly venomous.
Said boy just sighed, he really had no idea why she hated him so much. He hadn't really done anything to her, and yet she always acted like he was nothing more than an immature buffoon. 'Perhaps because I always acted like one.' he thought dryly, berating himself mentally for forgetting that she saw him as just the kind of person he had pretended to be. He was broken out of his musings when Kakashi spoke up again.
"Alright, you next Blondie."
Ignoring the jab about his hair colour, Naruto wondered what he should say. He didn't really trust his sensei, they had just met after all, but then again he had promised himself to stop acting, and he had to show everyone who he really was sometime, so why not now? He decided to go for a mix.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, training, gardening and those close to me. I dislike the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook, hospitals, people who think they are better than others, not having enough money to buy ramen at the Ichiraku's and those who judge people without getting to know them. My dream is to one day become Hokage and live up to a certain person's expectations."
Kakashi simply smiled that strange smile with his eye again, then turned his attention toward Sasuke.
"Alright, Mr. Dark and Broody. What about you?"
Sasuke merely grunted, then answered with a bored tone.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like very few things, and I hate almost everything. I have no dream, as what I plan to do will happen. That is rebuilding my clan, as well as killing a certain man." his voice had a steely edge to it at the end, and his onyx eyes had gained a murderous glint.
Ignoring the small amount of killing intent that had begun leaking out of Sasuke, Kakashi clapped his hands together to regain the attention of his team, then said "Well, now that we've introduced ourselves I'd like to tell you about the test we'll be having tomorrow."
"Test? What kind of test? And while I'm at it, why will we be having a test in the first place?" came the reply from Naruto, who had a calculating look on his face, no one had told them about being required to take a second test after all.
"I'm glad you asked." began Kakashi, "You will undergo a survival exercise, and your score on it will determine if you'll become Genin or not. And before you interrupt me, the exam you recently passed was meant to pick out those who had the potential to become Genin. Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will pass, giving this test a failure rate of 66.6 percent." all of this was said with that strange smile, and when he had finished, Kakashi handed each of them a slip of paper.
"This paper holds all the information you'll need. Remember to bring all of your gear. And before I forget.. I'd advice you not to eat breakfast, you might throw up if you do."
And with that, Kakashi was gone, the only trace left of him being a few leaves fluttering in the wind.
Sighing, Naruto read through the information written on the paper. All that was written on it was the time and location where the test would take place, along with the things that Kakashi had already told them.
He looked up, noticing that both of his team-mates had gone, sighed once again, then began making a list in his mind about the things he would need to buy today.
-Flashback end-
And now here he was, in line to pay for his wares. He wasn't buying much, just the essentials, as his small allowance wasn't enough for anything fancy, and he wanted to go to the Ichiraku's to celebrate should he pass the test tomorrow.
Paying for his wares, he thought again about the jutsu he had been developing, and smiled slightly at the thought of being able to try it out as soon as he returned home. Perhaps there was something good coming out of this shopping tour after all.
'I hate our sensei.' was the sole thought currently occupying the mind of Naruto. He had been waiting at the training ground his team was told to meet up at for nearly three hours now, and he was beginning to lose his patience.
"Aargh! Where on earth is he?! Kakashi-sensei told us to meet him here at eight a.m. Now it's close to eleven!" from the sound of it, Sakura was having similar thoughts.
Naruto turned his gaze toward the last member of team seven, hoping that the raven haired Uchiha was as annoyed as he was at their late sensei. However, Sasuke gave no outside indication of any annoyance, only sitting under the shade of a tree, gazing toward the edge of the forest closest to the village, as that was the direction that their sensei would probably arrive from.
As Sasuke didn't seem to care about his two team-mates in the slightest, Naruto figured that he was the one who had to calm Sakura down, as she had begun to pace around the clearing they were gathered in, sending hateful glares to anything that moved.
"Sakura-chan, calm down. I know you're annoyed at Kakashi-sensei, but you should try to conserve energy so that you'll have more during the test should you need it." seeing Sakura turning her glare toward him, Naruto gulped, then added, "Besides, you could kick sensei's ass for being late easier if you do."
At this, Sakura couldn't help but laugh slightly. The expression of slight panic on Naruto's face, coupled with his lame attempt at a joke caused most of the frustration she felt to seep away. She would have to do something about his slightly vulgar language though. Stepping toward him, she gave him a smack on his head.
"Ouch! Why did you do that Sakura-chan?" came his reply, his voice getting a slightly hurt tone, he had only tried to cheer her up and give her some small advice after all, so why did she hit him?
"That should teach you not to speak like that in front of me or Sasuke-kun." she answered with a small huff.
Sasuke, who had overheard their exchange of words and --in Sakura's case-- fists, merely grunted, seemingly annoyed by his team-mates' antics.
A sudden puff of smoke and a lazy "Yo." signalled the arrival of Kakashi, and all three of the Genin in team seven instantly turned their attention to their sensei, each one expelling a small amount of killing intent.
Kakashi merely smiled, completely ignoring the murderous looks his soon-to-be students were giving him.
"Sorry I'm late." he began, "My alarm clock broke when a black cat caused a mirror to fall on top of it, and I had to buy a new one."
'Had this been a manga I'm sure that this is the part where we're supposed to sweatdrop.' Naruto couldn't help but think. That excuse was so pathetic it wasn't even funny. He was broken out of his musings when Kakashi addressed them again, slightly more serious this time.
"Now that we're all here, I can begin explaining today's test." Ignoring Sakura's mumbled reply that Kakashi was the one who was late, said Jounin picked two silver bells from one of his pockets, then continued "Your task will be to get one of these bells from me. You will be allowed to use all of your gear and will have until twelve before the test is over. Those who haven't got a bell at that time will be tied up to the poles over there." he paused and gestured toward three wooden poles standing at the edge of the clearing, then continued with the explanation. "They will then have to watch as I and those that did get a bell eat our lunch. Oh, and they will also be sent back to the academy."
All of this was said with his strange smile, a smile that Naruto had become oddly used to by now. Kakashi fastened the bells to his belt, told them to come at him with everything they had, then started the alarm clock he had brought with him.
Immediately the three Genin of team seven darted out of sight, hiding away amongst the trees surrounding the clearing.
'Good, they've all gone into hiding, it seems like they know at least the basic things a ninja is supposed to do when facing an enemy of unknown strength.' Kakashi thought, scanning the woods for any sign of his students. His visible eye widened slightly when he caught sight of the green-clad form of Naruto, right in front of him.
"Well aren't you a strange one? One of the more important things for a ninja to do on a battlefield is to find out as much as possible about an opponent without exposing oneself, yet you've decided to meet me head on."
"Less talking and more fighting please, Kakashi-sensei." was Naruto's reply as he slipped into a sloppy version of the taijutsu stance taught to all the students of the academy. Kakashi sighed as he saw this, he had hoped that his blonde student would be better than this.
Naruto was preparing to charge at his sensei when he caught sight of said Jounin's arm moving toward the accessory pouch he had attached to his belt. The blonde tensed up, preparing for anything… Well anything apart from what Kakashi actually brought out. It was a bright orange book. Not only that, it was the same book that he had found Sarutobi reading several times, the famous erotic bestseller, Icha Icha Paradise.
His right eye twitching slightly, Naruto tried to ignore the Jounin's blatant disregard of his skills, it would not do to lose his temper when faced with an enemy of this calibre.
Only partly successful in calming himself, Naruto decided to charge now, while he still had some hold over his temper left. Quickly reaching the silver haired man, he threw a cursory punch at him, which was effortlessly dodged. Expecting this, Naruto followed the movement of his punch, using the momentum go glide into a spin kick, trying to hit his sensei's legs from behind in an attempt to trip him. This was also dodged without any visible effort from Kakashi's part, the Jounin hadn't even turned his gaze away from his book yet.
All of this had caused Naruto to lose all of his temper, so he increased the speed of his assault, throwing as many punches as he could toward the man in front of him. His punches weren't even blocked, Kakashi only dodged them all, still not looking up from his reading.
After an especially vicious punch, Naruto blinked in confusion as the Jounin had apparently disappeared. A calm voice behind him revealed the location of his sensei, and he dodged to the left as swiftly as he could. He got up from his roll as soon as he could, looking back toward the spot that he had been standing at seconds before, seeing Kakashi holding his hands in something similar to the tiger seal, the placement of the hands indicating that if he hadn't dodged at that precise moment, Naruto would have a very sore behind right now.
Forcing himself to calm down, and purge his head of disturbing and painful mental images, Naruto slid back into the same taijutsu stance as before, this time keeping his distance, watching his sensei for any sudden movements.
Kakashi had do admit that he was impressed of the way that his student had dodged his attack. However, he was slightly disappointed that it had been that easy to cause the blonde to lose his temper, he decided that he would have to help his student get rid of that as it could be a liability in the field.
Eyeing said boy, he was again slightly impressed that the blonde had managed to calm down and take on a more defensive stance. As Naruto was clearly expecting an attack, Kakashi decided to give the boy what he wanted.
Still keeping his nose in his book, he charged at the boy, throwing a quick punch that caught the blonde completely by surprise. The punch caught him squarely on the jaw and, due to the force of the punch, he flew back and crashed into a tree where he… puffed into smoke.
Blinking in surprise, Kakashi chuckled a bit when he realised that he had been played with from the very beginning. All this time he had been fighting a shadow clone, and yet he hadn't noticed the difference at all. Normally it was quite simple for him to see the difference between a ninja and his or her clones, yet he hadn't noticed anything with Naruto's clone, something that had him slightly startled. However, it seemed as if Naruto had gotten the idea of studying an opponent without giving yourself away too much a bit better than his team-mates had. Kakashi couldn't even sense where the boy was hidden, something he could do with both of his other students. Deciding that the clone's performance had been enough for him to see that his blonde student was good enough to be in his team, even though his taijutsu could do with a lot of improvement, the Jounin decided to seek out and test his other students next.
Naruto, who had been hiding a short distance away from the battlefield, rubbed absently at his jaw as he concentrated on keeping his chakra from revealing his position while at the same time going through what he had observed from the battle between his clone and Kakashi. As he had expected, there was no way for him to get a bell from the Jounin alone, at least not with taijutsu. What he hadn't expected however, was the speed in which his sensei moved and punched. And speaking of punches, he could actually feel that punch from where he was hiding. It was as if he and not his clone had been punched, and he really wondered why that was. Filing the information away for later, as he was still in the middle of the test and couldn't dwell on matters that weren't important for getting a bell, he tried to figure out what to do next, still doing his best to hide away his chakra.
As his chakra was different from everyone else's he had practised with it a lot, so much in fact that he knew precisely how it would act within his body at all times. Because of this, he could completely control how his chakra would move about inside him, and thus could hide it all away, hindering anyone from sensing his position by tracking his chakra. When it came to channelling chakra outside of his body however, he had a lot of problems. It was actually a small wonder that he could use the jutsu he had invented at all, as he had a really hard time in channelling just the right amount of chakra needed. It was the reason he couldn't do the regular Bunshin no Jutsu required to pass the academy graduation test after all. He simply had too much chakra and couldn't channel just the small amount needed for the jutsu, which led to the clones being deformed and unstable. The genjutsu he used to change the colour of his chakra was easy for him as he began moving the chakra in the right patterns before he expelled it, otherwise it would probably have been as impossible for him to do as Bunshin no Jutsu was.
Turning his thoughts back to the matter at hand, Naruto tried to figure out a way to get a bell from his sensei without any help.
'Wait a minute. It's impossible for a single Genin to take on a Jounin in battle, at least when the Jounin is expecting it. The only way to actually get a bell is to work together, but that doesn't make much sense either, as there are only two bells and the rules clearly state that anyone lacking a bell will lose the test and be sent back to the academy. Why do I get the feeling that there is something I have overlooked. Oh, well… there is no point in dwelling about this matter right now. I need to find a way to get a bell alone.' Naruto was broken out of his musings when a loud shriek sounded over the woods.
'That was Sakura-chan's voice.' was his first thought, and if he hadn't known that doing so would be to walk right into Kakashi's trap, he would've rushed off to find the pink haired girl immediately to see if she was alright. After a short mental debate, the part of him that was concerned about his team-mates' well-being won out and he sneaked off to find team seven's lone kunoichi in hope of being able to lend her assistance should she need it.
When he arrived at the spot where he had figured the shriek to have originated from he found Sakura passed out on the ground. After a cursory glance to see if there were any traps surrounding her, Naruto decided it was safe to approach the girl and he gently tried to get her to return to consciousness. After a little prodding she began to stir, then suddenly she flew up, her eyes darting all around the small clearing they were in, trying to find something. When she caught sight of Naruto she immediately began to ask him a multitude of questions, all revolving around Sasuke.
"No, I haven't seen Sasuke since the test began, and there are no bloodstains on the ground around here, so I doubt what you saw has actually happened. It is more likely that you fell victim to a convincing genjutsu." he answered after she had calmed down and told him what had happened to her.
"Oh." was the answer he received, but he paid it no mind as he was busy trying to think out what he should do from here on. In the end he decided to try on his earlier thought, they were just two after all, so it could work.
"Sakura-chan, I've been thinking. Perhaps you and I should try to get the bells together, there are two bells and two of us, and with both of us working together it would be easier to get them. And if Sasuke has gotten one already you can have the one left, ok?" he knew that he would throw away his only chance of becoming a ninja if it turned out that there was only one bell left but, after seeing what Kakashi was capable of, he highly doubted that Sasuke had been able to get his hands on one of the bells.
"Why would I want to do that?" came Sakura's reply, and before Naruto could say anything she continued. "If Sasuke-kun can get a bell alone then you and I need to do the same, otherwise we'd not be strong enough to be on his team." With that she dismissed him and jumped away into the undergrowth.
Naruto was slightly shocked by her reply. Her logic was extremely twisted and the idea itself was absurd, and yet he could find nothing to say against it. It made too much sense while it at the same time made no sense at all.
Seeing that he was getting nowhere, Naruto decided to give up the idea of teaming up and instead ran off to find Kakashi for a final try at getting the bells, trying to think up a plan while jumping from tree to tree to the point where he could feel Kakashi's chakra. He was sure that the Jounin was showing his chakra intentionally, but this was a test after all, they were supposed to find him. As he was going he noticed Sasuke stuck into the ground with only his head showing. As he saw Sakura running in the direction of Sasuke he decided to ignore the scene and instead focus on getting to Kakashi. Naruto estimated that he had about ten to twenty minutes left until the test ended and he had to hurry if he was to get a last chance of getting a bell.
When he finally reached his sensei, he found the silver haired man standing in the middle of the clearing they had started out in, his nose still buried inside that perverted book.
Giving out a small sigh, Naruto pulled out a kunai from the pouch on his leg and jumped down into the clearing. He had stopped focusing on hiding his chakra, so he knew that Kakashi knew exactly where he was.
"So you've decided to come in person this time." Kakashi stated, for once glancing up from his book.
"Yes, simply sending clones after you would get me nowhere." was Naruto's reply as he slid down into the standard academy taijutsu stance, slightly less sloppy this time. He had no chance of snatching a bell from his sensei in the middle of a taijutsu fight, so speed had to be the deciding factor here. He decided to test his own speed first, he'd rather not reveal his powers to his sensei this early, but he would do it if he was forced to.
Running at top speed toward his sensei he threw the kunai at him, then pulled his arm back for a mock punch and dived to the side at the last second, reaching out toward the bells in the middle of his roll. Kakashi, having seen through his intentions easily, altered his position slightly, so that Naruto missed the bells by a few centimetres. Not deterred in the slightest, Naruto tried again. He had decided not to summon any clones as they would halter him as much, if not more, as they would his sensei.
They repeated this for a short while, with Naruto running in and trying to snatch a bell with different acrobatic tricks, some more graceful than others, while Kakashi dodged them all.
'This will get us nowhere. My normal speed isn't enough, sensei is just too fast. It seems like I'll have to use it after all.'
With that thought, Naruto jumped back a few meters and landed in a slightly crouched position, his arms crossed in front of him. Kakashi watched on in interest as Naruto began to slowly expel his chakra into the air. His visible eye widened slightly when he saw that the chakra wasn't blue, but a deep green in colour. Then Naruto opened his eyes, as he had kept them closed the entire time since he had begun with this strange procedure, and Kakashi was shocked enough to actually lower his book from his face. The blonde's eyes were glowing softly, and from what he could see, they each had eight strange green marks within them, forming something that was similar to an incomplete sundial. Naruto smiled at him, then disappeared. That took Kakashi by surprise, whatever the blonde had done, it had increased his speed immensely. Now very serious, Kakashi snapped his book shut, put it back into his accessory pouch, and raised the headband concealing his left eye, he would probably need the Sharingan to see Naruto from now on. He was correct, but was still surprised at the speed which Naruto was travelling at, and that the boy had waited until he was ready, as he could still feel that both of the bells were attached to his belt.
Seeing that his sensei was ready, Naruto charged in. It was a lot of fun seeing Kakashi do everything in slow-motion, but he had no time to be amused, there was only a few minutes left of the test after all. As he wasn't expecting Kakashi to have something special hidden under his hitai-ate, and certainly not something like the Sharingan, he was taken completely by surprise when the Jounin not only predicted where he was going, but also dodged and retaliated. He was even more shocked when the punch hit him straight on the chest, sending him flying for quite a distance.
Kakashi watched on in interest as Naruto flew away from the force of his punch. At first he had been flying away at the same speed he had been running in, something that was very surprising in itself. Kakashi knew that he didn't have that kind of strength, not even Tsunade of the Sannin could do something like that. But when he had flown for a short while, Naruto seemed to slow down, but he still hadn't changed altitude or anything else that could indicate that the flight was ending. After having taken a closer look Kakashi realised something that unnerved him greatly. The grass directly beneath Naruto was waving due to the wind, like the grass surrounding it, but it was waving at a much slower pace.
'He didn't speed himself up, he actually slowed everything around him down! But how?' was the thought running through the Jounin's head when he heard the alarm signifying the end of the test go off.
"Why is it that I'm the only one tied up?" asked a very agitated Naruto.
"Because I felt like tying you up." was Kakashi's reply, the now familiar smile present on his face.
Getting serious, the Jounin began to talk about the test.
"Now, it seems like none of you managed to get hold of a bell during this test, though Sasuke was close to getting one. This doesn't really matter however, as the test was never about getting the bells in the first place."
"Damn it, I'm so stupid." Naruto stated, having finally figured out what he had missed about the test. After seeing his team-mates giving him strange looks because of his sudden outburst, he decided to elaborate.
"It was all about working together toward a common goal, along with being able to make a necessary sacrifice for the good of the team, wasn't it Kakashi-sensei?"
"That's correct. I'm glad that you've been able to figure it out, even if it is too late now." came the reply, then Kakashi turned away from them and began to walk toward a large stone monument a few meters away from the wooden poles the team was gathered around or, in Naruto's case, tied to.
"Working together as a team is the most important rule for shinobi of Konoha. It doesn't matter if you know more than a thousand jutsu or is stronger than everyone you know, if you can't work together with and care for others it means nothing." he said in a soft voice, having stopped in front of the monument.
"This monument was erected in honour of Konoha's heroes, heroes who died while protecting this village and everyone within it. My best friend was one of those heroes…" he trailed off at the end, seemingly lost within memories of a life long gone.
Turning back to them, Kakashi stared at each of them seriously before saying something that Naruto would take to heart and follow throughout most of his life.
"'Those who break the rules are trash, yet those who abandon their team are even lower' never forget that. I will give you a second chance to get the bells after lunch." he tossed a pair of bento to Sasuke and Sakura, then continued "Don't give anything to Naruto. I make the rules here, and if I find you giving him a single bite I will disqualify you all, understood?"
After seeing Sakura's and Sasuke's nods he picked out a bento of his own, then vanished in a poof of smoke.
Sighing at the unfairness of it all, Naruto stared longingly at the food that was currently being eaten by his two team-mates. Against his better judgement, the blonde had decided to follow his sensei's advice and had refrained from eating breakfast, and he could feel himself getting hungrier by the second. Even so he couldn't help but be surprised when a bento was suddenly being held out in front of him, his surprise only increasing when he saw that it was Sasuke holding the bento.
As if answering an unasked question, Sasuke began to speak.
"If you don't eat you'll only be a liability later, and I will not be sent back to the academy because of you passing out in hunger in the middle of a test."
A little touched, Naruto smiled in appreciation. However, just as he was to reply to the Uchiha, Kakashi appeared before them, glaring at them all. Ominous clouds circled above them, and when the Jounin spoke his voice was heavy with rage.
"You three! You ignored my orders, knowing fully about the consequences. Therefore you three… Pass!" Kakashi's voice changed completely at the end, and he smiled at the three stunned Genin, perhaps being a teacher wouldn't be too bad.
After hearing their cheers --or in Sasuke's case, satisfied grunt-- however, he immediately decided that, yes, it would be bad.
"Now that we are a team we will meet up at the bridge close to this training ground at eight a.m. each morning for practise and missions. Tomorrow we will meet up at the Hokage tower for registration however. You are all dismissed."
After seeing Sakura and Sasuke walk off, Kakashi turned his attention toward the still tied up Naruto.
"Now, mind telling me how you pulled of that stunt you did at the end of the test?"
Sighing, Naruto began to describe his bloodline. He had known that it would come to this, so he had only himself to blame for not keeping it a secret.
After explaining everything, Naruto expected a multitude of questions, yet Kakashi only nodded, saying that he understood everything. Something in the tone of his voice told Naruto that not only did his sensei understand, but he also wouldn't betray his trust by revealing anything to anyone. His respect for his sensei growing considerably, Naruto gave him a smile and a thank you, signalling that he understood the hidden meaning behind the Jounin's words.
After he was untied however, his smile turned into a sadistic smirk. It was payback time.
"Kakashi-sensei, I believe this is yours." he said, pulling out an orange book from his accessory bag.
His visible eye widening, Kakashi immediately turned all of his attention toward the small book.
"My book! How did you get hold of it?" he said while searching through his own bag to see if it was actually his book.
"I snatched it from your bag before you were fully ready at the end of the test." came the blonde's reply.
"Very impressive Naruto, now could I have it back?" while he was impressed that Naruto had managed to snatch the book from him without being detected, Kakashi couldn't help but be unnerved by the glint that had appeared within his student's eyes.
"Now why would I do that? I think it would be much better if I just got rid of it. Smut isn't good reading after all." with that Naruto flashed through a few hand seals, still holding the book, then said "Tokiton: E-jingo no Jutsu".
The effect of the jutsu was instantaneous, the book began to visibly age at a rapid pace, its pages first losing their print then simply falling apart into dust. Before long all that was left of the book was small flakes of paper, flowing away with the wind.
"Think of this as revenge for tying me up." was all Naruto said before walking away from his shocked sensei. It wasn't until he reached the very edge of the training ground that he heard the anguished scream that Kakashi let out, having finally realised that his beloved book had been turned to dust before his eyes.
It was the scene of Naruto happily slurping down noodles at a rapid pace that met the Hokage when he entered the small ramen stand that said blonde frequented; the Ichiraku's.
Smiling slightly at the sight, he sat down beside the boy before turning to the owner of the stand.
"I would like to have the usual Teuchi-san." he said with a small smile, then turned his attention to Naruto, who had yet to realise his presence.
"Good evening, Naruto-kun. I trust that your test went well?" he said, and was happy to see that the blonde gave no outside indication of being surprised. It seemed like Naruto had taking the training he had suggested about being more subtle seriously.
"Oh, hi Ojii-san. Yeah, it went pretty well." came the boy's reply, before he turned back to his bowl of ramen.
Shaking his head slightly, Sarutobi turned back to Teuchi and received his own bowl. Giving a small thank you, he turned back to the boy beside him yet again only to see said boy looking longingly at something down the street. Turning his gaze toward the thing that Naruto was looking at, Sarutobi felt his heart sinking. It was a mother and her young son, walking down the street hand in hand, smiling and talking to each other.
'If only things were different… If only I had-' he stopped his train of thought there, he had been thinking about this far too many times before, and he didn't want all of his good mood to vanish. Still, Naruto should know about it.
"Naruto, I-" he stopped. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't force himself to speak. He couldn't reveal something like this to someone who had already endured so much.
"Huh? Did you say something Ojii-san?"
"No… It's nothing. Thank you for the ramen Teuchi-san." leaving enough money to pay for the meal, the Hokage left the stand, his bowl of ramen still untouched.
Jutsu list:
Tokiton: E-jingo no Jutsu: Ages an inanimate object. As it isn't used to influence the time of a living being it is much less complex than Tokiton: Kanshiki no Hitomukashi, yet it is also a lot weaker. It is used mostly outside of battle and as such could be easily dismissed as something worthless, yet with enough chakra it could even turn a large stone wall into dust and gravel.
I'm sorry for taking so long to finish this chapter, but I have had a lot on my mind lately, one thing being where this story will eventually go, and I've managed to figure out how the plot and the ending will be.
This is the first time I've tried to write a fighting scene, and I'm really not satisfied with how it turned out, but I hope that it will be acceptable.
You may also have noticed that most things are from Naruto's point of view, and I intend to keep it that way. This story is about Naruto, and most of the focus will lie on him, so the other characters will not get as much attention as he does within the story. This does not mean that I will neglect them however, they are simply not the focus of the story.
I have hinted at a few things that will be important later on in this chapter, and some of those things will be easy to pick out, while some will be slightly more difficult.
I'd really like to hear what you think of my story, and I'd also like to thank those who have reviewed so far.
Thanks for reading!
/Andrin